Silvio Berlusconi Politics

Why We Are Still Talking About Silvio Berlusconi

According to the model favored in these venues, women — really, people, but women in the case of the seduction-oriented scenarios that are of prime concern therein — might say that they reward (with their attentions) qualities like thoughtfulness, mindfulness or consideration, but their actions reward things like aloofness, insouciance and something called “independence of outcome.” “Independence of outcome” is essentially a very slightly shortened form of “not giving a sh*t.” In the context of approaching a woman in the bar, it means that it’s better to act as if you don’t care what comes of the interaction, because you have options. In the context of Italian politics, it’s also pretty much that. Italy, right? I guess. But also people in general.

Silvio Berlusconi has independence of outcome, as well as independence of pretty much everything else. He’s already rich. He’s a media titan. Could this be used to further the interests of his political concerns? Of course. Exquisitely so. But can his popularity be explained as a mere unfortunate outcome of his industrial possessions?

Nah. Not totally.

That’s too easy, and that lets us all off the hook too completely. Wouldn’t it be nice to think that the reptiles and the dinosaurs and the crocodiles only come out on top when they stack the deck? Or when they alter the rules, somehow? Wouldn’t it be nice to think that we had actually asked for another history altogether, and only ended up receiving the one that we did Because Criminals?

We all know this isn’t the case. Read Madame Bovary, read Richard III, read Tennyson’s Idylls of the King: We constantly award privilege to people who are insensitive and insouciant. We almost demand it. We picture our leaders as having these traits.

We like to imagine that the dinosaurs lost. But they walked the earth for 185 million years. We have existed for about 190,000 — and for much of that spell, we weren’t exactly unrewarding toward displays of callous social dominance. The show isn’t over.

There are a great many things to which we claim to be intolerant, but only a few to which we actually are. We feel good declaiming insensitivity, inconsiderateness and flippancy, but we despise weakness. We imagine a beneficent future when we protest bull-headedness, poor impulse control and lust, but we can’t stand bloodlessness. We think it’s all for the best when we decry insouciance, arrogance and hauteur, but in reality we scorn wishy-washy temperaments and all manner of over-considered tepidities.